Shoemaking



May 13,, 1947. A. COCOZELLA S HOEMAKING Filed Jan. 30, 1946 Patented May 13, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOEMAKING A nthony Cocozella, Lynn, Mass.

Application January 30, 1946, Serial No. 644,289

2 Claims. 1

This invention consists in an improved process of manufacturing shoes of the platform type. Shoes of this vtype are now in demand but as heretofore constructed have required a great deal of special and highly skilled work which has necessarily been reflected in the cost of the finished shoes. The object of the present invention is so to arrange and divide the various shoeniaking operations that eachone may be carried out rapidly, without the exercise of exceptional skill, and so that the final result of a series of simple steps will be represented by a shoe of high quality, sturdy structure and improved appearance.

A shoe made in accordance with the process of my invention is characterized by a binding strip, which may be of leather or of ornamental fabric, attached at one edge to the margin of a The process of my invention is directed more especially to the cooperating or related steps by which the upper and the binding strip are secured in the organization of the shoe. I have discovered that the improved and valuable results sought may be achieved by carryingout three cooperative steps as follows: First, the out-turned marginal edge of the upper alone is attached to the marginal edge of the thick stiff insole by a line of stitching passing through the upper and the sole in close proximity to the marginal edge of the sole. Second, the binding strip is superposed above the attached edge of the upper, and the binding strip and upper are simultaneously attached to the stiff insole by a second line of stitching located slightly within the first line of stitching; that is to say, located just inside the line of stitching by which the margin of the up per has been attached. Third, while on the last, the binding strip is wrapped outwardly and downwardly about the exposed edge of the upper and about the edge of the thick insole and adh'esively secured to the bottom of the insole.

In the first step the operator has merely to bring the edge of the upper into registration with the edge of the insole and attach it to the sole by a simple gauged stitching operation. In the second step the operator has merely to register one edge of the binding strip with the edge of the insole and the attached edge of the upper and then, by carrying out the second simple gauged stitching operation, the upper, on which the strain of wear is to come, is secured to the stiff insole by a second line of stitching and the binding strip is adequately secured by the same line of stitching. In each of these steps the operator has to handle only a single loose piece, that is to say, the upper in carrying out the first step, and the binding strip in carrying out the second step. By this simplification of the attaching op eration rapid and accurate work may be performed by operators having little skill or experience in shcemaking and yet results of unusual accuracy are achieved.

The step of wrapping the binding strip on the last about the edge of the insole is advantageous because it is then carried out with the upper internally supported and held positively out of the way during the wrapping operation, and because it gives the operator something solid to present to the gauge of the wrapping mechanism. On this account the binding strip may be drawn smoothly and with any desired tension about the edge of the insole or platform sole,

The employment of a stiff insole or platform sole of substantial body and thickness rather than a flexible sock lining or other flexible sole piece makes it possible for th manufacturer to elimiate the operation of spotting a loose platform sole on a sock lining as a subsequent operation because the stitching positively insures accurate location of the thick sole piece which constitutes the platform. Further, it reduces the shoemakmg operation to handling one thick sole piece or platform instead of two pieces, viz., a flexible sock lining and a platform. All this is particularly ad.-

' of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a fragmentary view in perspective, partly in section, illustrating the step of attaching the upper to an insole, or a platform sole,

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the second step of the process, that is to say, the formation of a stitch line attaching the binding strip and upper to the platform sole,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in perspective illustrating the wrapping step, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale.

n y g out the process of my invention as herein illustrated, an insole or platform sole I is first selected from any desired insole stock substantial in thickness and stiff in texture, or which may be of ground cork composition in sheet form, and cut or died out in the proper shape for an insole or platform for the shoe to be manufactured.

The platform sole herein shown includes a ply of textile fabric H which is cemented permanently in continuous face-to-face contact with the body ply of the sole. In practice this platform sole material is made up in sheet form and the individual soles are died from the sheet in condition for immediate use. The fabric ply not only serves the purpose of a sock lining in the finished shoe but tends to prevent stitches from breaking out at the sides of the sole.

The upper i2 is completed with or without a lining as desired and cut accurately according to pattern. The first step of the process may be carried out in an ordinary straight needle sewing machine as suggested in Fig. 1 where the bed l of the machine supports the sole l0 and a roller gauge Iii-l8 guides the marginal edge of the sole ID in a path beneath the needle bar 20 such that a stitch-line 2| is formed parallel to and closely adjacent to the marginal edge of the sole ID. This line of stitching passes through the outturned margin of the upper l2 and through the full thickness of the sole ID, as more clearly shown on a large scale in Fig. 4. The edge gauge is rotatably mounted on the sewing machine bed l4 and comprises a freely rotatable roll iii and a freely rotatable concentric ring I8 which surrounds the roll is and provides effective gauging surface for this particular step of the process.

In carrying out the second step of my novel process, one edge of the binding strip 22 is brought into registration with the previously attached edge of the upper I2, the ring I3 is removed from the gauge and the insole l8 advanced in a path gauged by the roller [5, while the second row of stitches 23 is formed parallel to and slightly within the previously formed stitch-line 2|. It will be understood that since the effective diameter of the combined gauge l5-i8 is greater than the diameter of the roll l6 alone, a wider edge extension is provided beneath the needle bar 29 in carrying out the second step of the process than in carrying out the first stitching step.

Having attached the upper and binding strip as above explained the last L is now forced into the partially completed shoe, stretching and shaping the upper and providing a solid support for the platform sole. With the shoe in lasted condition the operation of wrapping the binding strip 22 is now carried out by hand or with the assistance of any available wrapping mechanism.

One satisfactory mechanism is shown in Fig. 3 where a stationary height gauge 24 is shown as bearing upon the outer face of the platform sole ID. The free edge of the binding strip 22 is drawn upwardly by being passed between a pair of vertically disposed gripping rolls 25 and 26 having cooperating helical corrugations. The inner face of the binding strip 22 is shown as being provided with an adhesive coating and this is softened and rendered tacky by a blast of heated air delivered through the medium of a nozzle 28 located next to the height gauge 26. A horizontally reciprocatory wiper 21 then wipes inwardly the updrawn binding strip, now in adhesive condition, and presses it into contact with the outer face of the platform sole It].

The shoe is completed by cementing an outsole in place, shaping it to the longitudinal curvature of the shoe bottom and uniting it to the lower face of the insole in position completely concealing the inturned margin of the binding strip and with its marginal edge flush with the vertical walls formed by the binding strip.

The sole piece ii? has been herein referred to an insole since the upper is fastened to it and since it is not subjected in use to wear, but it may appear in the finished sole as a midsole or a platform sole.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative process exemplifying it, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The process of making platform shoes, which includes the steps of first attaching the outturned margin of an upper to the top face of a platform sole of substantial thickness and body by a line of stitching located closely adjacent to the marginal edge of the sole, then simultaneously stitching the upper and one edge of a binding strip to the platform sOle by a second line of stitching passing through both the upper and the binding strip inside the line of stitching first mentioned, then forcing a last into the partially formed shoe, subsequently wrapping the binding strip, on the last, about the superposed edges of the upper and platform sole and cementing its unstitched edge to the bottom of the said platform sole.

2. The process of making platform shoes, which includes the steps of attaching the out-turned margin of an upper and one edge of a binding strip by stitching to the top face of a laminated platform sole comprising a cork composition layer and a fabric sock lining cemented in face-to-face contact thereto, then forcing a last into the partially formed shoe, and subsequently wrapping the binding strip, on the last, about the edge of the upper and platform sole and cementing its unstitched edge to the bottom of the said platform sole.

ANTHONY COCOZELLA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,329,725 Mondl Sept. 21, 1943 2,354,797 Cocozella Aug. 1, 1944 

